Director of Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought mocked the backlash Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) faced for defending the changes to Medicaid proposed in the reconciliation bill before Congress.
Ernst took questions about what Democrats have characterized as cuts to Medicaid in legislation passed by the House and dubbed “the big, beautiful bill” in a town hall this week. As the bill now lies before the Senate, she was answering questions about how she will vote on it. One audience member shouted at the senator, “People are going to die,” to which Ernst responded “Well, we all are going to die,” drawing boos at the moment and national news coverage since.
“I think they‘re totally ridiculous. This is astroturf,” Vought told Sunday Morning Futures in response to critics of Ernst’s comment and in reference to the attendees at her town hall. He used the term “astroturf” to suggest that the attendees there were trying to artificially start a movement that appeared to be grassroots when those behind it were large corporations or political groups.
“This bill will preserve and protect the programs, the social safety net, but it will make it much more common sense. Look, one out of every five or six dollars in Medicaid is improper. We have illegal immigrants on the program. We have able-bodied working adults that don‘t have a work requirement that they would have in TANF or even SNAP,” Vought said. “And those are something that‘s very important to institute. That‘s what this bill does. No one will lose coverage as a result of this bill.”
Ernst similarly cited the 1.4 million illegal immigrants who are receiving Medicaid benefits but “would be coming off” as a result of the bill.
DR. OZ ASKS WHY STATES ARE ‘PAYING FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS GETTING HEALTHCARE’
“What you don’t want to do is, listen to me when I say that we are going to focus on those that are most vulnerable,” Ernst said at the town hall. “Those that meet the eligibility requirements for Medicaid, we will protect. We will protect them.”
Several Republican town halls have gone sideways as protesters have increasingly infiltrated the meetings to shout down lawmakers. As a result, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Richard Hudson (R-NC) told members that they should cease holding in-person town halls to stop encouraging such actors. However, Ernst defended her Parkersburg event, saying, “I always enjoy hearing from constituents and sharing my work to cut government red tape for you” as she approaches her reelection in 2026.
